Dino De Laurentis died this week aged 91.
The cool Italian was the epitome of a European producer who seemed to know what the public wanted.
As a producer he was behind some schlock but also some great movies in a mixed bag of work that included La Strada, Battle of the Bulge, Danger:Diabolik, Barbarella, Serpico, Death Wish, King Kong (1976), Flash Gordon, Ragtime,Conan the Barbarian, The Dead Zone, Firestarter, Dune, The Bounty, Year of the Dragon, Blue Velvet, Manhunter, Evil Dead 2, Desperate hours, Army of Darkness, Bound, Hannibal and Red Dragon.
Without him we would not have had the sight of King Kong climbing the twin towers, Flash Gordon’s theme by Queen, Jane Fonda in space, The Wachowski brothers, Arnie swinging a massive sword, Al Pacino iconic in Serpico, Bronson’s war on muggers, Cagney’s last screen appearance, Evil Dead’s Ash in a medieval mad world, David Lynch’s folly and masterpiece, or Brian Cox as Hannibal the cannibal.
But maybe his greatest achievement was bringing us Bitter Rice and therefore a young Silvana Magnano.
rice rice baby
